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I never thought of changing both discs in different ways. By the way, the neck is a pretty recent one, the third one. (The first was replaced at five years, then second at about 20-some years, and I have also had the bottom-body-frame replaced, the base replaced (thank you W. for making me need that), and a refinishing, followed by a base-board replacement! I hope to never have any more work done. Thankfully, the sound has only improved. Now that the board has pulled up, some of the sharps are getting very tricky to improve.
While I don’t have all the parts, tools or skills, I have to do as much of my own regulation as I can, and so far, I can get it within a few cents.
The distance between flat and sharp is, I think affected by the felts, because it alters the distance the pedal travels. It definitely affects the grip of the discs. When the felts are new, the discs need to be gripping more tightly, and as they pack down or wear away, the discs need to be loosened. So, it seems to me I need either more or less felt to counteract that effect.
The natural to sharp doesn’t change, that’s right, so that is the hardest to fix. One little trick I have just used is to slightly flatten the natural to bring the sharp within reason.
I certainly would like for Lyon & Healy to hire you to improve their mechanism, because certainly you want the stationary nuts to be adjustable and the discs, too. Why aren’t the screw holes in the disc repositionable so you can slip the whole disc down an eighth of an inch? It seems to me that is possible, or could also be by having a replacement disc with the screw hole off-center.
I can’t afford regulations these days, but I also like to do it myself, and get it as I want it. I have not often had a regulator who understood my needs. (I have not had the pleasure of Carl’s expertise.)
When you bend the string, you bend the pitch. Over-pulling the string will produce that effect. Generally speaking, it is not really desirable.
If your harp has time to dry out gradually, I think lower humidity in the winter is not such a big problem as long as you have some. My harp started out in Minnesota, and it survived.
They all sounded just fine to me, but the extended sounding board definitely has a fuller tone and is more even. I would not recommend getting a harp with less than 46 strings if at all possible.
Thumb-under playing, as far as I know, is something some so-called “experts” in early music developed by copying paintings from medieval periods, as though those were faithful documentation of how people played the harp then. But then, some harpers back then only used three fingers to play. It has found its way into some sources as a “legitimate” technique because quite a few people have decided to play this way rather than study with an actual harpist. I can’t stand Andrew Lawrence-King, for example, because he is self-taught, and though he has found wonderful music to play or created it, when I heard him in concert, his harp had the ugliest sound I have ever heard. It barked like a dog. I think it partly due to tuning very low and very loose strings. I think it was also not a harp made with fine wood or the best proportions.
I hope your book will include a full chart of Mr. Grandjany’s notation symbols and complete list of works. Salzedo saved just about everything from his life, it seems, so there may be correspondence from Mr. Grandjany in his files. He was certainly there in Salzedo’s address book. I always heard they were on quite good terms with each other, and that Salzedo welcomed him when he arrived in the U.S.
What strong opinions this brought forth! Perhaps Nat has a natural instinct for the harp and has the genius to play it perfectly on his own. Conventionally speaking, you should take lessons, if only to support the profession, and you may have to undo what you have already gotten used to doing, but do what you want. If you have a harp, you might as well play it. There are several people here who have offered distance learning, including myself. You could also take a weekend trip to a teacher and have a few hours of instruction to get a good start. But, fiddling around, will probably lead to a fiddling sort of technique.
The only book I would recommend you start with for self-learning is the Method for the Harp by Lucile Lawrence. It has great photos of her hands, and she clearly explains how the hand works. The ABC of Harp Playing is designed for the basic beginner, so use that with it. You could also go into the Pathfinder Studies. The folk-harp books that I’ve seen, just a few of them, would be not-good guides, and even misleading. Where you go with it is up to you, but the best foundation will yield the best results for you. Or do whatever you want. We’re all equal, right, Briggsie?
I heard it performed by Elizabeth Richter at the 2004 national conference of the AHS. I think it is a beautiful piece. It is very atmospheric, impressionistic, and musically challenging. He uses ideas he developed into his Five Poetical Studies. He performed it with several American orchestras as a showpiece.
People know who I am, and my background. I do not hide behind a pseudonym and attack people anonymously. If you expect me to respect your views, try revealing who and what you are.
I don’t think it changes that much with experience. My goals are still to make recordings, to get through performances without audible mistakes or glitches, not any different than when I was young, just on another level, perhaps. When I started, my goal was to be a concert artist, to tour, perhaps join a chamber orchestra, to teach, make recordings, be known. In those days, it all seemed possible. Before Reagan. It all changed by 1984. When I was growing up, one could see recitals by artists like Segovia, Rubinstein, Heifetz, De Los Angeles, Sutherland, Menuhin, even Casals, perhaps, every year, depending where you lived. Sol Hurok was still a visible presence. It was such a different world then. Classical music was on television all the time. I remember seeing people like Perlman (young), Roberta Peters, Jan Peerce, Robert Merrill, and always Marilyn Horne on the Tonight Show. And I’m talking about the 1960s and 70s, even into the 80s. That was a golden age, really.
I don’t think it changes that much with experience. My goals are still to make recordings, to get through performances without audible mistakes or glitches, not any different than when I was young, just on another level, perhaps. When I started, my goal was to be a concert artist, to tour, perhaps join a chamber orchestra, to teach, make recordings, be known. In those days, it all seemed possible. Before Reagan. It all changed by 1984. When I was growing up, one could see recitals by artists like Segovia, Rubinstein, Heifetz, De Los Angeles, Sutherland, Menuhin, even Casals, perhaps, every year, depending where you lived. Sol Hurok was still a visible presence. It was such a different world then. Classical music was on television all the time. I remember seeing people like Perlman (young), Roberta Peters, Jan Peerce, Robert Merrill, and always Marilyn Horne on the Tonight Show. And I’m talking about the 1960s and 70s, even into the 80s. That was a golden age, really.
